Instead of a New You for the New Year…

Here we are on the first day of a brand-new year! And if you’re like most of us, or me at least, 2017 was a humdinger of a year… and not necessarily in a good way. But here we are, ready to start anew, with another 365 days to play with, 365 chances to get it right, or at least 365 chances to do better.

I’m sure most of us are spending today half sleepy, lazy, and half trying to be productive and put together our plans for the new year to kick them off right, etc., etc., etc… As we begin to write those lists of hobbies we’d like to get back to, weight we’d like to lose, money we’d like to save, trips we’d like to take, debt we’d like to erase, love we’d like to find, or languishing dreams that we’d like to make a reality… might I invite us all to do something just a little bit different? Might we all make one small change that could make for a large shift in perspective? Before we write those lists of changes (yes, I am putting a small brake on change for the moment, egad! It must be important and worthwhile then… I hope!) I would like to suggest that we spend an equal amount of time creating a list of all of the things that we got, or had happen or changed, or changed us, or just simply surprised us during 2017. You know, those magical things and milestones of survival and forward progression that we never seem to see unless we stop and take the time to look. I am inviting you (imploring you, begging you, pleading you even) to take that time and look.

Before we roll full steam ahead into “what’s missing” let’s create a space to see how much happens that is not under our control, from our own power, under our own sails as it were. I am asking you to look for those things and those moments of gratitude and grace. (Grace of the mercy, favor, clemency variety rather than the religious variety. Too many people have possible issues around some of that to want to wade off into that sticky wicket here.) We all had moments of magic, kindness, love, and wonder last year… let’s give them their due. Let’s take the time to realize that these moments still occur even in the hardest of years, to buoy our spirits, to remind us what’s possible, to give us just that tiniest shred of hope to keep going. I ask you to make a list of these things, to remember, and to reread it when 2018 starts to look too hard. When that list of resolutions, goals, and to-do’s gets to be too much and looks so incredibly far out of reach. Please, give that gift to yourself for the new year.

Here are a few of mine:

I am more loved, by more people than I ever knew.

That even though this year in my relationship was one of the hardest I’ve known in many years, I learned so much about how I have been hindering myself in relationships for a very long time.

During hard times, (and hurricanes) people show their true natures… and people are generally good, caring, and helpful.

We have strength (comfort and healing) in numbers… #MeToo

I am capable of more acceptance, compassion, and forgiveness than I ever knew possible.

Becoming truly vulnerable is hard… but so worth it.

After years of “working so hard” to get rid of a weight gain, finding something of ease allowed me to release it.

I can only heal the parts of me that I am willing to see.

I am meant to offer this website to others and my heart is happy to do so.